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the beatles

I’ve just published a list of 100 songs in Chinese (mostly Mandarin, but also Cantonese… and maybe Hokkien… can’t be sure of that) that’s a great cheat sheet for anyone wanting to show off their knowledge of the scene. There’s definitely a wide variety of artists, so you’re sure to find something you enjoy.

This year’s season of The Voice of China is a bit on the meh side compared to last year’s. Some good talents, but not as awing as some of last year’s. This battle for Wang Feng’s team, though, from Simon Chung (鐘偉強) of Hong Kong singing it out with Beijing-based Bi Xia (毕夏) with the classic Hey Jude was pretty emotional.

The whole father/daughter interaction going on, because Simon took the time to guide Bi Xia through the song and Bi Xia’s knowing what he’d done for her makes the whole elimination process all the more painful.

Over the years there has been some outstanding whiteboard marker illustration videos, like Drive: The Surprising Truth about what Motivates Us [1], Where Good Ideas Come From by Steven Johnson, or variations like James & Amy’s Electric Fence [MV] (drawn by James Cooper).

Spanish artist Pablo Morales de los Rios takes a look at the history of music and lays it out all on the table.

We’re always bombarded with news at how the music (and movies, and everything else) industry is losing money to piracy, even though we keep hearing all these facts about how Glee has had more songs charted than The Beatles.

When Sarah, from the Music Production Schools’ design team, emailed me this infographic depicting all these facts onto one place… is hard not to share, right?

I won’t lie to you, the numbers are good — though I really don’t know how that works with adjusted inflation — but the numbers also make me sad. To imagine Katy Perry standing on similar ground as MJ or Flo Rida standing on similar ground to The Beatles… or Ke$ha selling MORE than The Beatles. It’s depressing.

Mainly because there are MUCH better artists out there, and half the world haven’t even heard about them. I think it’s a crime that everyone knows Katy Perry, but it’d be rare if someone knows who Shiina Ringo is.

In any case, this is an infographic about sales~ so there you have it.